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WHAT WE'RE WATCHING

HOW TO PAY YOUR PARTNERS - Leaders of both FisherBroyles and a new spinoff firm are offering competing profit-sharing opportunities for their partners in addition to a majority of collections. As Law.com's Justin Henry reports, hat's a departure from the usual practice of so-called distributed law firms offering only compensation formula systems for partners and comes amid fierce competition for FisherBroyles partners in the wake of two of the firm's leaders tendering their resignations with plans to launch a new firm called Pierson Ferdinand. But is profit-sharing really what partners at distributed firms are after? It's debatable. "I really think most lawyers here wouldn't be interested in the equity piece because they feel they are doing pretty well if they're getting 80%-75% of their own time," Ben Lieber, founder and managing partner of distributed firm Potomac Law Group, said. "If you're making 80% of your work, you don't care what's happening to the other 20% as long as the firm is well run."

TROLLING FOR TECH TALENT - Choosing the right tech tools for your law firm is hard enough—getting the right talent to use those tools? That's a whole other ball of wax, particularly when it comes to generative AI. Finding the best people to deploy and develop that tech will likely prove one of the biggest differentiators in the market, Law.com's Rhys Dipshan writes in this week's Barometer newsletter. "Those that already have such talent, or have the resources to be competitive in a market where technologists, IT specialists, and data scientists are in low supply and high demand, will inevitably have a head start," Dipshan writes. To receive the Law.com Barometer directly to your inbox each week, click here.

ON THE RADAR - Enbridge Inc. has agreed to sell its interests in Alliance, Aux Sable and NRGreen to energy transportation and midstream service provider Pembina Pipeline Corp. for $3.1 billion. The transaction, announced Dec. 13, is expected to close in the first half of 2024. Calgary, Canada-based Pembina was advised by Blake, Cassels & Graydon and a Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison team. Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom represented the underwriters in connection with the acquisition. The Skadden team included capital markets partner Ryan Dzierniejko. Counsel information for Enbridge was not immediately available. Stay up on the latest state and federal litigation, as well as the latest corporate deals, with Law.com Radar.  

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